So This Is Christmas
by lone astronomer
Summary: It's just a sweet little piece about Christmas at Hogwarts... a James/Lily fic, of course. Lots of Romeo/Juliet mush type stuff.


So This is Christmas

Disclaimer: It isn't mine… it's J. K. Rowling's.

Summary: Someone asked me to write James/Lily fluff… just fluff. Fluffy fluff. And so this is what came of it. I don't hold myself responsible. I suggest you take that same course of action. Kudos to those who are still putting up with me. Adios.

Just a comment: Recently my English teacher commented that I didn't seem to like to read about character development and romance. I laughed out loud, and agreed with her.

I'm such a liar.

Another comment: I know, I know. All of the L/J aspects have pretty much been done to death… but this was begging to be written. It's inevitable that this plot is cliched beyond belief. So if you don't _like_ the cutesy, L/J plotline things, don't read it.

*Warning*: Sappy, sappy, sappy. Contains multiple references to Romeo and Juliet. _Sappy_.

So This Is Christmas

The window swung open, sending snow and cold air through the common room and making the firelight flicker. A boy with unruly hair jumped down off of the ledge, landing in a pile of snowflakes fallen from his own cloak and robes. "Beat you, Sirius!" he said, grinning so widely that his head looked as if it might split in two.

A hand, followed closely by an arm and finally a head, all belonging to the handsome young man that was Sirius, showed itself on the windowsill. "No fair," he said, laughing. "You _cheated_."

Both of them failed to notice the Gryffindor common room's third and only female occupant, a scrawny girl in the same year as they were, hidden behind a curtain of red hair. Part of this was because this girl was not someone who wanted to be noticed, and the other part was that she was _almost_ too absorbed in her book to notice their conversation anyway. At any rate, what James Potter and Sirius Black were doing climbing up the sides of Gryffindor Tower _in a snowstorm_ at eleven thirty at night, she really didn't want to know.

"I don't cheat," James sniffed, nose in the air. "Anyway, giving you a sick mental image of Snape in a dancing girl costume does _not_ count as cheating."

There was a stifled laugh from an overstuffed armchair near the fireplace, drawing the boys' attention at last to one of the stars of our story. "Who's the-ere?" James called cheerfully, still in a good mood from winning the competition. He poked his head around the sofa and plopped into one of the chairs across from her. "Hello, Lily."

Lily Evans let out a grumble that, had she not been so tired from her self-induced insomnia, might have sounded something like, "'Lo, James." In truth she had been having strange, incomprehensible and downright frightening dreams of late, and so avoided sleep at all costs. 

James studied the girl more closely. Lily had never been an especially outgoing or friendly person, but he'd never had any reason to dislike her either. Still, she was in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts and he barely even knew her name. _Interesting_. "Watcha reading?"

Another grunt. _Well, this conversation is getting somewhere._ "Pardon me?" he asked, fumbling in his pocket for his reading glasses. No grunt this time, she simply raised the book so that he could see it in better light. _'Romeo and Juliet,'_ he read. **_Very_** interesting, indeed.

"That's nice," he said cheerfully, still trying to make conversation. He decided to take a stab in the dark. "So, are you looking forward to the holidays?"

Lily didn't look up. _Maybe if I'm quiet, he'll go away. _"Hmmm."

"I'll take that as a yes, then," James answered, giving up. "I will see you in the morning. Good night, Miss Evans." He left before she gave an answer. _What's with her, anyway?_

He didn't notice the exquisite pair of green eyes that followed him to the stairwell, much less the resigned shake of the head or the vain attempt she made at reading after it.

Sirius yawned sleepily as James shut the door behind him, careful not to slam it and wake Remus. He opened one eye lazily. "She blew you off, huh?"

James scowled. _I hardly recall trying to get a date, or anything else. _"Yeah," he answered with a grin, shaking his head mock-sadly. "Didn't say a word."

Sirius snorted. "You're not trying to tell me that most girls can talk comfortably around you, are you, Romeo?"

__

What's with everyone and romance lately? I don't ever plan on falling in love. Must be the Christmas spirit. "Some of them talk entirely too much, Padfoot," James answered with a rueful look at the overwhelming pile of love letters that had been dropped on his bed. "Bugger. How'm I going to sleep on _that_?"

Sirius laughed, unable to resist lifting the edge of his bedskirt to show James how he dealt with _his_ fanmail. "Just move it," he suggested.

James took another look at the pile. "Sirius, I do believe you've got more under there than I could hope to have." The brown, usually laughing eyes were almost somber. _I **really** don't want to touch that,_ he thought, looking at one particularly gaudy letter (it was bright pink and orange). _I bet Lily doesn't write these useless things_. With one arm, he swept all of the rolled-up parchment onto the floor. "Much better. Good night, Sirius."

A snore answered him. James laughed. Sirius could sleep through anything- even the much-overused, mixed scent of the many perfumed love letters.

__

Who does he think he is? the thought hadn't even bounced around in her brain enough for it to be comprehended before it was answered. _James Potter, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, all-around good-guy, not to mention good-looking_-

__

Not to mention, Lily Evans corrected it, _an irresponsible, useless, and big-headed trouble-maker._ She sighed, thinking back. A nagging part of her mind, one that was so different from the rest of her that she had once given it a name and insisted that it was her invisible friend, kept talking. _Well, you try getting over a three-year-long crush on his best friend!_ Lily told it sharply. She smirked to herself. That had shut it up, all right. For the moment.

Sighing, she put up her hair in a sloppy ponytail, glancing momentarily at the framed Muggle photo on her dresser. Four happy faces looked out- her mother and father, her sister Petunia, and herself. Lily was only ten in the photograph- taken before she knew she was a witch, before her sister had started arguing with her over every little detail. Lily scowled. _Petunia._

Every year, she had looked forward to going home for Christmas vacation- but not this year. Her sister was getting married and, at her insistence, Lily was not invited to the wedding. Her parents, of course, would be attending, and under normal circumstances Lily would have gone home for the holidays anyway. 

However, Petunia's were not normal circumstances: she was to be married in Rome.

So Lily, for the first time, was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.

__

Petunia, she thought grouchily, _why do you hate me so?_ Lily tiredly pulled on her pajamas and reluctantly crawled into bed, finally falling into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

She woke the next morning- the first day of December- with two things on her mind. The first was breakfast; Lily had skipped dinner the day before and her stomach was growling at her for it. The second was avoiding James; as he wasn't usually awake until five minutes before the first class, it shouldn't have been a problem.

Trying to predict James was Lily's first mistake of the morning. He came bounding down the hallway at quarter to seven, whistling happily. _How dare he be so bouncy at this hour_. "Morning, Lils!" he said cheerfully, giving her one of those irresistible grins that made the other girls melt.

"Hullo, Potter," Lily answered in a much grumpier tone. 

"Don't have to sound so excited at seeing me, y'know," James continued, reaching out one long arm and draping it around Lily's shoulders. _Why am I doing this? … 'Cause it feels right._

Lily, who had her arms crossed, was frowning very furiously, and was making every effort to get away from him, looked out of place with James Potter. "You can let me go now, James."

"If I let you go, will you promise not to run away?" _Do you really want her to promise that? … I'm just playing with her._

"Yes," she lied.

"Good," James said, and released her. _And if you hurt her?_

Lily took out her wand. "_Petrificus totalus_," she said, smirking. "Sorry, James. I didn't say anything about walking away slowly."

James watched her leave, a rather shocked expression on his face. If he could have moved, however, he would have been smiling- things had just gotten a lot more interesting. _Talk of hurting! Ladies and gentlemen,_ _Juliet has left the building_.

When James showed up twenty minutes late for Transfiguration, Lily didn't bother to hide her grin. James glowered at her, and she waved cheekily. (The female Ravenclaws in the class looked at Lily with something like disbelief; 'How could she get _James Potter _angry?') Professor McGonagall promptly took five points from Gryffindor for James' late-coming, but he and Sirius earned them back by the end of the class, anyway. The class was learning how to turn animals into other animals, and they were the only two who could manage it, although Sirius' frog-turned-rabbit _was_ a strange color.

Lily satisfied herself with a charm that made her toad _think_ it was a rabbit, gave it a carrot and watched it amusedly as it wiggled its nose. _I hate Transfiguration,_ she thought gloomily. That was about when McGonagall's toad-rabbit and James' toad-rabbit started doing something very typical of rabbits, and she had to laugh at the innocent smiles Padfoot and Prongs gave the poor Transfiguration teacher. _Those two are going to be the end of McGonagall_.

Unfortunately, by lunchtime, James hadn't given up. In fact, he was waiting for her as she left Transfiguration. He didn't know exactly _why_ he was waiting for her… once again, it just _felt_ right. "Hello, Evans."

"Go away, Potter," she told him in no uncertain terms.

James pouted, making sure it was a very exaggerated expression. "But I want to talk to you."

Lily gave him an icy glare. "Did you ever think that maybe I don't _want_ to talk to you?" What was he doing this for? Was he trying to add another to his list of admirers? She would tell him right out, it wasn't going to work.

He shrugged. _Not really… Idiot, you should probably think of these things. _"So listen." 

Lily was about ready to tell him off for his audacity when her means of escape was given to her: a throng of ditzy-looking girls wearing too much makeup and the like. All were giggling madly at James' approach, ignoring Lily entirely. She slipped through them, forcing James to either follow her (which wasn't a pleasant option) or catch up with her later, which, though she dreaded, was a far more likely option. 

Lily lunched at the Ravenclaw table, hidden among more studious beings, but couldn't help thinking of the boy who seemed to think that she needed him for a friend.

The two friends sat, watching their other friend and his uncharacteristic behavior. "What has gotten into him?" Remus asked, as James finished demolishing the flower he'd picked on.

"I've no idea," Sirius answered, bouncing ideas around in his head. He was trying to figure out to whom the Marauder's Map should be given, and it wasn't an easy task- in fact, he'd been working on it since sixth year. 

Moony didn't take his eyes off of his other friend as he went to the window and smiled, then dashed out of the room. "Maybe that will give us a clue?" he said, jumping up and walking over to the window. "So that's it," he muttered. "Hey, Sirius," Remus called. "This is just something you have to see."

Padfoot slid down the banister and joined the werewolf at the window. He took a look and his eyes nearly burst out of his head. _Could it be?_ "Christmas came early," he said in wonder.

Remus grinned. "Jimmy-boy is smitten. And it's not even my birthday."

__

She loves me, she loves me not. 

The last petal was gone from the poinsettia, and he had no idea if it was a 'she loves me' or 'she loves me not,' which was fine, as he'd forgotten who he'd been thinking of as 'she' anyway. 

__

Not true, the increasingly annoying voice at the back of his mind kept telling him. _Liar, liar… Oh, do grow up._ James frowned severely, an unusual expression for ten o'clock on a Saturday morning. He'd been unable to find Lily thus far that day, and as chasing her through the hallway seemed to annoy the swarm of girls that followed him everywhere, it had become his favorite hobby. _That's not the only reason…_

Frustrated with himself, James opened the window and peered out. Immediately, his face lit up. _Cloak… gloves… boots…_ He ran out the portrait hole faster than even Sirius would have been able to.

Of course, she was nowhere in sight as he left Hogwarts completely; she was in the courtyard, having a snowball fight. He arrived just in time to get a large confection of snow in the face. James wiped the snow out of his eyes, unaware that he had a ledge of the fluffy white stuff on his eyebrows. "Hullo, Evans," he said cheerfully, making a snowball of his own.

"Can't you leave me alone?" she asked. She was still annoyed that she wouldn't be with her family at Christmas. 

"Alas, Lily," James answered, "I really can't live without you."

Her scowl softened. "I really don't want a friend, you know," she said quietly.

"That's too bad," James said somberly, changing his attitude entirely. _Why doesn't she want a friend?_ "That's what _I_ want," he continued his thought, still perfectly serious.

Lily's eyes gave a twinkle, and for a moment James thought he saw a totally different person behind her mask. "Is that _all_ you want, Potter?"

__

No. "Yes," James said firmly, blissfully unaware that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Good," Lily said, and stuck out her hand for him to shake. "Friends?"

James, completely bewildered, took her hand. That was when she hit him over the head with a snowball from her other hand, covering him in snow again. He looked at her calmly. "I'll get you for this, you know."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Lily replied, eyes still twinkling. "But for some reason, I'm actually looking forward to it." Then, she ran away, and James was left to contemplate the meaning of her words.

"What _are_ you doing?" Sirius asked Remus, who was pouring over his Transfiguration and Charms notebooks all at once. "Surely the great Lupin isn't… _studying_?"

Remus looked up for a second, giving his friend a sort of exhausted half-smile. "Nope… I'm plotting. Want to help?"

__

Plotting what? Sirius thought. _I bet_. "Who's the lucky victim?" he asked, pulling out the chair across from Remus'.

Remus' smile grew, although he didn't look up again. "You'll see…" He lifted his wand and pointed it over to the window, muttering his charm. A large wreath of holly and pine hung itself in the arch. "No, no, not that one…"

Sirius, having a fairly good idea of what his friend was up to, had to grin. "Any chance I'll see the results of this plotting sometime? Like, tomorrow at breakfast, in front of the Great Hall, maybe?"

Remus raised his eyebrows, testing yet another charm, then grinning. "There's always that chance, isn't there?"

The next day was the day before Christmas, and there weren't that many people left at Hogwarts. Lily wanted to stay in bed, but decided that if she slept in she'd regret it when she ran into James (who had resumed waking up late). So, she dragged herself down to breakfast at the normal hour, and was rather unpleasantly not surprised when she found herself walking to the Great Hall beside the Head Boy.

"Hello, Lily," he said cheerfully, giving her a grin.

She had decided to be civil, now that they were 'friends,' and so was actually polite. "Good morning, Potter."

"You can call me James, you know." He chanced a sideways look at her. "Heck, you can call me anytime you want."

They turned the corner at the bottom of the staircase and she smacked herself in the forehead. "Who's been teaching you bad Muggle jokes?"

James just grinned.

Lily groaned. "It was Remus, wasn't it?"

The grin became wider. "Maybe."

She just laughed at his expression. Suddenly they were at the entrance to the Great Hall, and it was time for him to go sit with Remus and Sirius. For once, Lily felt bad about seeing him go. 

James, too, wasn't quite ready to introduce Lily to his other friends, although she surely knew them well enough already. Sirius had been putting two and two together to make five since they were both little more than children, and he certainly didn't need any help. Still, it took him by complete surprise when a weighted paper ball hit him in the head. "Ouch." James picked it up and unfurled it.

__ Prongs- look up.

Lily, reading over his shoulder, looked puzzled for a moment. James' own confusion was momentary, and at the exact same moment their eyes lifted to the arch, where, directly and quite innocently above them, hung a small bit of mistletoe. 

James leaned down to pull her into his kiss, making a mental note to thank Remus profusely. 

Lily, however, had no idea what James' incredible friends were up to, and only one cohesive thought ran through her brain. She decided that, Hogwarts or no, perhaps she was among her family for the holidays, after all. 

__

So this_ is Christmas_. 

Endnote: I'm fully aware that the James, Lil, and mistletoe has been done before, but what aspect of James/Lil hasn't been done? This didn't come out quite the way I wanted it, but I think maybe I like it better that Janine just sort of took over. Ah well. Short and sweet, nonetheless. 

Ta ta… 

~ l. a.


End file.
